Burma Railway

1. Burma Railway

2. ENGLISHpresentJantana KamanukunbySawinee Mahasamut (16)Doungkramon Prasitthisomporn (18)Prangwalai Thawornwichien (19)Sirikan Buakom (24)Kanchananukroh School

3. Burma Railway Burma Railway TheBurma Railway, also known as theDeath Railway, theThailand-Burma Railwayand similar names, is a415 km (258 mile) railwaybetween Bangkok, ThailandandRangoon,Burma (now Myanmar), built by theEmpire of Japan duringWorld War II, to support its forces in theBurma campaign. Forced labourwas used in its construction. About 180,000 Asian labourers and 60,000Alliedprisoners of war (POWs) worked on the railway. Of these, around 90,000 Asian labourers and 16,000 Allied POWs died as a direct Result of the project. The dead POWs included 6,318Britishpersonnel, 2,815 Australians, 2,490Dutch, about 356Americansand a smaller number of Canadians.

4. History A railway route between Thailand and Burma had been surveyed at the beginning of the 20th century, by theBritishgovernment of Burma, but the proposed course of the line — through hilly jungle terrain divided by many rivers — was considered too difficult to complete. In 1942, Japanese forces invaded Burma from Thailand and seized it from British control. To maintain their forces in Burma, the Japanese had to bring supplies and troops to Burma by sea, through theStrait of Malaccaand theAndaman Sea This route was vulnerable to attack by Alliedsubmarines, and a different means of transport was needed. The obvious alternative was a railway. The Japanese started the project in June 1942.

5. They intended to connectBan PongwithThanbyuzayat, through theThree Pagodas Pass. Construction started at the Thai end on22 June1942and inBurma at roughly the same time. Most of the construction materials for the line, including tracks and sleepers, were brought from dismantled branches of theFederated Malay States Railwaynetwork and from theNetherlands East Indies. On17 October1943, the two sections of the line met about 18 km (11 miles) south of the Three Pagodas Pass atKonkuita(Kaeng Khoi Tha),Sangkhla Buri district, Kanchanaburi Province). Most of the POWs were then transferred to Japan. Those left to maintain the line still suffered from the appalling living conditions as well as Allied air raids.

6. The most famous portion of the railway is probably Bridge 277 over theKhwae Yai River. (The river was originally known as the Mae Klong and was renamed Khwae Yai in 1960.) It was immortalized byPierre Boullein his book and the film based on it: The Bridge on the River Kwai. However, there are many who say that the movie is utterly unrealistic and does not show what the conditions and treatment of prisoners was really like. The first wooden bridge over the Khwae Noi was finished in February 1943, followed by a concrete and steel bridge in June 1943. The Allies made several attempts to destroy the bridges, but succeeded only in damaging them in their first attempts. On2 April1945,AZONbomber crews from the U.S.458th Heavy Bombardment Groupdestroyed Bridge 277. After the war, two squarish central sections were made in Japan to repair the bridge, and were donated to Thailand.

7. Post-war After the war the railway was in too poor a state to be used for the civil Thai railway system, and needed heavy reconstruction. On24 June1949, the first part fromKanchanaburitoNong Pladukwas finished; on1 April1952, the next section up toWang Phoand finally on1 July1958, up toNam TokThe portion of the railway still in use measures about 130 km. (80 miles) BeyondNam Tok, the line has been abandoned. Steel rails have been removed for reuse in expanding theBangsuerailway yard, reinforcing the BKK-Banphachi double track, rehabilitating the track fromThung SongtoTrang, and constructing both theNong Pladuk-SuphanburiandBan Thung Pho-Khirirat Nikhombranch lines. Parts of it have been converted into awalking trail. Since the 1990s there have been plans to rebuild the complete railway, but these plans have not yet come to fruition.

8. Workers On The Bridge Conditions during construction The living and working conditions on the railway were horrific. The estimated total number of civilian labourers and POWs who died during construction is about 160,000. About 25% of the POW workers died because of overwork, malnutrition, and diseases likecholera,malaria, anddysentery. The death rate of the Asian civilian workers was even higher; the number who died is over 150,000 people. The living conditions of POWs were recorded at great risk to their own lives by a number of artists. Miraculously many of these drawings have survived. Works byJack Bridger Chalker,Philip MeninskyandRonald Searleare held by the Imperial War Museum in London, England and works byAshley Georg Oldare held by theState Library of Victoriain Australia. Many of the images can be viewed on-line.

9. POWs and Asian workers were also used to build theKra Isthmus Railway from Chumphon to Kra Buri, and theSumatra or Palembang Railwayfrom Pakanbaroe to Moeara. The construction of the Burma Railway is only one of many majorwar crimes committed by Japanin Asia. Hiroshi Abe, the first lieutenant who supervised construction of the railway atSonkraiwhere over 3,000 POWs died, was later sentenced to death as a B/C class war criminal. His sentence was later commuted to 15 years in prison.

10. Cemeteries and memorials The graves of the people who died a brutal death were transferred from camp burial grounds and solitary sites along the railway to three war cemeteries after the war, except for Americans, who wererepatriated. Themain POW cemeteryis in the city of Kanchanaburi, where 6,982 POWs are buried, mostly British, Australian, Dutch and Canadians. A smaller cemetery a bit farther outside city is Chung Kai with 1,750 graves. At Thanbyuzayat in Myanmar there are 3,617 burials of POWs {3,149 Commonwealth and 621 Dutch} who died on the northern part of the line, to Nieke. The three cemeteries are maintained by theCommonwealth War Graves Commission.

11. 902 US POWs from the 131st Field Artillery Regiment and survivors of theUSS Houston (CA-30)-668 were sent to work on the Railway, of whom 133 died. There are several museums dedicated to those who lost their lives constructing the railway, the largest of which is atHellfire Pass(north of the current terminus atNam Tok), a cutting where the greatest number of lives were lost. There is also an Australian memorial at Hellfire Pass. Two other museums are inKanchanaburi, theThailand-Burma Railway Museum (opened in March 2003), and theJEATH War Museum. At the Khwae bridge there is a memorial plaque and a historic locomotive is on display. A preserved section of line is at theNational Memorial Arboretum in England.

12. bibliography http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma_Railway

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